SPARTAN-X Program
Conception After Alpha Company's destruction and success on Operation:Promtheus, a whole new group of ideas for Spartans sprang up, few of which survived to reach completion. The SPARTAN X, which was named for it's experimental nature, made the cut because some of its new ideas. The primary theory behind the SPARTAN-X program was quantity not quality, as opposed to the SPARTAN-II Program. The training was worse, there were more candidates, there was a longer training period, there was less funding, and the SPARTANs were more disposable. Conscipts Several weeks earlier, ONI had pinpointed a group of extremist rebels hiding aboard the Asteroid Base freedom. The rebels were planning an attack on a UNSC Fissile Materials production facility, and once they found that ONI was on to them, they accelerated their plans, and set their plan into motion. However, the UNSC was able to quickly transfer a platoon of marines to the planet, who were able to beat back the attackers, unfortunately killing every one of them. This had further consequences, cheif most that it left 950 ten year old children on the base orphans, which ONI deplored as "unacceptable collateral damage". However, ONI had something bigger in mind for these youngsters than simply putting them up for adoption. Even though they had been born rebels and had been taught to hate the UNSC, ONI was confident that they could turn most of the children's viewpoints around with a little time. Thus, the base was raided, and all 950 children were taken, now destined to become Spartans. These children were initially very hostile to the UNSC, but eventually, others who were not so hostile, such as Jake Hammer and Andrew Johnson, were able to turn the minds of most of the others. Training Following their conscriptions, the 950 were split into 95 ten man squads, which would often train against each other, and would often become fierce rivals. During their training, two teams rose into the spotlight: Fireteam Echo, commanded by SPARTAN-X077 Jake Hammer and SPARTAN-X197 Andrew Johnson; and Fireteam Cobra, commanded by Daniel Anthems SPARTAN-X879, and Charlotte Riggers SPARTAN-X117. In addition to almost 8,000 instructors, the Spartan Xs had another resource, a "smart" AI named Eldina, who would help train the Spartans, and for some reason became very attached to Jake Hammer. When Eldina evetually went rampant and shut down, another AI, named Champion, who was among the "dumb" variety, replaced her, and after he was accidentaly destroyed after three years, a third AI, named Deliah (AI), replaced him. Deliah would once again form a lasting bond with Jake Hammer, something which all the AIs except Champion had done. Five years into the training, leaders were decided, and Hammer ultimately took first command, Johnson second, and Anthems third. This was a subject of debate in the years to come. On September 21st, 2542, two days after the leaders were decided, augumentation happened, and each Spartan was truly made into a Spartan. The auguments were alot safer than those used for the Spartan IIs, but they consisted of much of the same things. However, though the bulk of the 950 recieved only the same auguments that the Spartan IIs and IIIs had suffered earlier, a few of the most elite and deadly Spartans recieved another drug, known as cladyhaldrin, which opened up neaural pathways and allowed acces to another whole 5% of the brain, giving these Spartans unparreled willpower and intelligence. Examples of these are SPARTAN-X077 Jake Hammer,SPARTAN-X197 Andrew Johnson, SPARTAN-X879 Daniel Anthems, SPARTAN-X117 Charolette Riggers, and SPARTAN-X493 Susan Henry. In addition to these, SPARTAN-X077 Jake Hammer was also given two more upgrades. In an extremely painful procedure, two experimental fusion reactors were inplanted in his forearms, and two miniture M7057 Defoliant Projector Flamethrower were augumented into his wrists, along with a special drug to make his hands resistant to heat. After augumentation, training continued on for another ten years. The early augmentation was due to a drop in funding, and the training was of relatively low quality, in comparison to the other SPARTAN projects. The Spartans were often formed in companys or plattoons, and groups of up to 450 spartans would engage each other with stun rounds and flashbang grenades. During these years, it became increasingly obvious that Hammer was up to the challenge of leading the 950 Spartans. During these years, the Spartans grew in skill and experience, and by the end of their training, they were a force to be reckoned with. On July 4th, 2552, ONI gave the Spartans their first real mission. In the past they'd done some extremely real simulations, in which many of them had gotten almost critically injured, but this was different, in more ways than one. Some in ONI still doubted the Spartan Xs devotion to the UNSC, so they carefully chose a place that would serve both as an acceptable target for 950 Spartans, as well as a test of their loyalty. The target was easy to find, the rebel asteroid base known as Freedom. SPARTAN-X077 Jake Hammer ccordinated with admiral Jerry B. Jacobs of the UNSC Aneas, a ship with a growing history of helping Spartans. They planned the mission carefully, careful to note that the rebels had a stockpile of Fenris Nuclear Warheads that could be used against them at any time. The final result was this: Jacobs would charge through in the front with the Aneas, and would provide the Spartans with a distraction so they could infiltrate the base. Once they infiltrated the base with the help of the prowlers Defiance and Avenger, they would proceed to cripple the station, steal the warheads, and take out as many rebel personnel a possible. The Operation, known as Operation:Shadow, went down without a hitch. There were no Spartan Cassualtys, very few of them were injured, they escaped with every single one of the nukes save one, which they left behind and armed to destroy the base, they killed almost 2,500 rebels, and captured another 5,000. At that point, the Spartan Xs were a startling success, considering their "less with less" background. However, their succes wouldn't last...not by a long shot. Operation Anvil During Operation Shadow, many of the Spartan Xs noted their lack of a mid to long range weapon. They had their elite MA5D ICWS Assault Rifles for close in work, and their S1 and S2 Sniper Rifles for long range, but they lacked a good long rang weapon. It was then that Andrew Johnson began working on a deal with ONI to allow them to field test the BR55X Battle Rifle, which would serve their purpose well. The SPARTAN-Xs eventually recieved the new weapon from ONI after Andrew made a deal with them, and made only slight modifications. The biggest of these was the fact that it could fire a custom HE ammunition, which would embedd in the ground or soft targets then explode. An improved version would later become the BR55 Battle Rifle. They quickly recieved MJOLNIR Mark V7 armor, a test prototype that looked exactly like the Mark VI, but instead used the CQB helmet. This version's sheilds were not as strong, but it did prevent fall damage, however it didn't have the implanted bio-foram injectors, nor the in helmet binoculars. After reciveing their armor, they were given a new mission, Opearation Anvil. Weeks ago, the Covenant had invaded the UNSC held planet known as New London, but, instead of glassing it like normal, they started a mining operation inside one of the planets cities. The UNSC command was pissed, and they saw a good oppurtunity to send in the Spartan Xs. The Spartan Xs were loaded onboard the Prowlers Defiance and Avenger once again, and the Spartans were force to use Slipspace Capable Orbital Drop Pods to reach the surface. But the end of the long, cramped, and nauseating descent wasn't enough, because the covenant had far more troops on the planet than ONI had imagined. ONI's initial estimate was just above 5,000 troops, but there were really more than a half a million on planet. The landings were hot, many Spartans were killed on the flight down, and others were gunned down after they emerged from their drop pods without cover. The Spartans were now scattered across the country side, outmanned, outgunned, and in deep shit. Nevertheless, the Spartans killed their fair share of covenant, but they still lost over 150 Spartans during the first hour of engagment. Nevertheless, the Spartans pressed on, slowly regrouping and though they took heavy losses during those hours of confusion and leadershiplessness, they finally regrouped around the city gates, with only 400 of the original 950 remaining. They then proceeded to attack the city. Even though the covenant outnumbered them 100 to 1, the Spartans were at an advantage. The narrow streets proved to be excelent for ambushes, and the Covenant troops seemed to have trouble functioning in the alien enviroments. Nevertheless, losses were high, and with the sudden death of Jake Hammer, many of the Spartans had begun to lose faith in the mission. But Jake Hammer was not actually dead; instead, he had taken his team, Fireteam Echo, as well as Fireteam Charlie, down a mineshaft he had discovered, and emerged into something far more stunning. They had emerged from inside the shaft into a huge cavern, but to their surprise, it was snowing. In awe they began to explore, when thet found a series of forerunner data cores. Not knowning what they were, Hammer instructed their AI, Deliah (AI), to download the information. To her surprise, the data file was huge, but was extremely quick to download. However, as soon as she finished, she became aware that her code was comming apart, and she told Hammer so. However, a collumn of covenant elites then amushed them, killing of all of the two teams except for Hammer, Johnson, and another Spartan known as Susan Henry. The trio then attempted to escape, destroying the data cores as they ran so the covenant would not have them. They raced up the minshaft, but Susan was hit and injured, so she told them to leave her while she held them off. With a slight tear, Hammer agreed. Meanwhile, the other Spartan Xs had fought their way to a different mineshaft, and Daniel Anthems, Charolette Riggers, and four other members of their team then descened into the shaft while the other spartans kept their back clear. However, more covenant arrived, and the situation got out of hand, and the covenant descended the shaft as well. Anthems and Riggers had just finished arming explosive charges when the covenant overwhelmed them. They killed the four other Spartans, and stunned Riggers and Anthems, taking them prisoner. Meanwhile Hammer and Johnson had just emerged from the tunnel when the charges detonated, collapsing the tunnel. Outside, they found a large amount of dead Spartans, as well as their killer, an Avenger Elite. This blue and white colored killer was the best commando unit the covenant had, and armed with an energy sword, they were extremely deadly. However, the two of them were able to just barely kill it, at the cost of Andrew's life. Hammer then evacuated to a Cougar Class Escape Ship and headed out for their rally point, New Sydney. The Last Spartan X On October 5th, 2552, Jake and Deliah finally emerged from Slipspace inside the New Sydney System with little time to spare. However, during its insertion into New Paris's atmosphere, the Cougar had been damaged, and its G-Force Buffers had been destroyed. Because of this, Jake quickly fell into unconsiousness. However, Deliah managed to calculate a hasty landing vector. Then, knowing that she had merely moments before her auto-destruct programs kicked in, she encrypted the forerunner data and an AI reincarnation program she had created into a data crystal, and took a moment to reflect on the fact that her hastily plotted vector left Jake's chances of survival dangerously low. Several minutes later, the Cougar entered the atmosphere and crashed. Luckily, a scouting team from the planetary listening outpost saw the crash and rushed to investigate, and found the hulk of the destroyed Cougar. However, upon closer investigation they found Jake to be alive, and quickly hauled him into their warthogs and rushed back to their base, Outpost Gamma-12. A host of medics and technicians rushed to greet the critically wounded Spartan, and they immediatly brought him to the medical wing. For the next 12 hours he was put into intensive care. It was a tough procedure; many of the pieces of his armor had been fused to his body by the intense heat of the descent and had to be surgically removed. His wounds were extensive; his left lung had collapsed, he had a punctured spleen, he was bleeding internally, he had 18 cracked ribs, and a puncture wound too his skull. However, despite his extreme wounds, the medics said that it could have been far worse. After the surgery, he was put in medical cryo to recover. On Octobrt 13th, 2552, Jake awoke, but to the medic's dismay, (whether it be from the traumatic loss of his entire platoon or the crash landing) his memory of all of Operation Anvil and the lead up to it were gones. However, they had a bigger promblem at hand: a force of 25 Covenant Capital Ships that had finally followed Jake from New Paris. The technicians quickly escorted him to the Base Commander, a troubled man known as Commander Michael Jones. During this time, he learned that despite her "death" Deliah (AI) had been able to be reincarnated using a program that she had left behind. The resulting "new" AI was an AI known as Alvia (AI) This AI had a younger personality than Deliah, appeared younger in her hologram, and though she did not have all the memories of the original Deliah, she had Shadows of these memories. In addition, the forerunner data that Deliah had encrypted into her code also made her run much faster, and it made her more compressed. During the discussion, Jones informed Jake that almost all of his MJOLNIR Mark V7 had been destroyed in the crash. As a result, only the shielding system, inner hud computer, and personal AI crystal matrix watch had survived. However, Jones was far from foolish, and he knew the Spartans would be coming to him ahead of time. So, instead of getting a couple of suits of Mark V7, which might not even be needed and no one but Spartans could wear, he got dozens and dozens of LWAJ or Light Weight Armored Jumpsuits, which, were highly remnicent of marine armor, but provided more protection from ballistic and plasma weapons alike. LWAJs also had a mounting place for a shield generator, which allowed for even greater protection. In the past, before they were given Mark V7, the Spartan Xs used LWAJs. After informing him of this armor, Jones gave Jake a new mission. He told him that some extremely valuble data was encrypted in Alvia's code, which could prove vital for the UNSC, and possibly win the war. Thus, his next task was not unexpected. With the Covenant fleet in orbit, Jones saw Alvia's best chance of survial in Jake. So, he told him to take whatever weapons he needed, one of the newly shipped Mongooses, and hed for the other side of the planet, to a hidden airfield were a Cougar Class Escape Ship lay hidden. Jake acceppted, and was escorted to the armory, after downloading Alvia to his Personl AI Crystal Matrix Watch. When they arrived, Jake found a whole manner of weaponry waiting for him. However, with Covie infantry closing fast, he decided that he should not weigh himself down with extra weapons. Instead he grabbed only two M6D Pistols, a BR55X Battle Rifle, and an S1-AM Sniper Rifle. Then, he boarded the Mongoose and set off across the planet. During his six day trek across the planet, he was continually attacked by Covenant jackal hunting parties and banshees. These eventually destroyed his mongoose. bit he kept walking anyway, and didn't let it stop him. Finally, on October 19th, he reached the base, but to his dismay the Cougar was no where near in working shape. However, a stealth sky hawk jumpjet was availble, so he used it to reconoiter. On October 21st, 2552, he finally made his move. He attacked an killed the guards of a small outpost guarding the remains of Outpost Gamma-12. Going inside, he found that the small base held an even bigger prize, an active camoflauge system installer. After equipting himself with active camo, he snuck around and got the explosives and whatever extra weaponry he could find from the underground armory that Gamma-12 had had. Then, armed with explosives and camo, he snuck to the Covenant groundbase, planted charges anywhere and everywhere he could, the made a mad dash for the hangar bay in the resulting confusion. Inside, he snuck aboard a prophets personal phantom, which had upgraded plasma cannons and a slipspace generator. After hozing down the covenant inside the hangar bay and destroying all other ships, with pink-white plasma, he flew away, and after evading the Covenant fleet, he entered slipspace. However, as the exact same moment he engaged his slipspace drives, the forerunner construct delta halo shut down, sending a ripple through slipspace. This ripple hit the small phantom like a tidle wave, and sent Jake and Alvia forever off course; unable to return home. This slipspace ripple scattered fractured Jake and Aliva tremendously; dozens of different copies of them were thrown throughout space and time, into dozens of different dimensions. It is unknown where all of the copies ended up, but each was unique and whole, a complete and total clone of the reality. Equipment The Spartan Xs trained with a variety of weapons, though they were most comfortable with the following: the MA5D ICWS Assault Rifle, the BR55X Battle Rifle, S1-AM Sniper rifles (the precursor to the S2 used in frontline engagements, and M6D and M6C pistols. They also prefered LWAJ and MJOLNIR Mark V7 armor for protection, which featured the head of a CQB armor for increased close range protection and was matte black, aside from colored strips on squad leaders. In addition each one had several of his or her favorite "custom" pieces of equipment. For example, Jake Hammer had his personalized AI Crystal Matrix Watch, which could hold any form of UNSC AI. Known Spartan Xs ---- Fireteam Cobra: ---- *SPARTAN-X879 - Daniel Anthems *SPARTAN-X117 - Charolette Riggers Fireteam Charlie: ---- *SPARTAN-X145 - James Henry *SPARTAN-X191 - Christina Jones *SPARTAN-X175 - Rob Robbinson *SPARTAN-X345 - Min Taylor *SPARTAN-X921 - Jordan Terez *SPARTAN-X138 - Lucy Green *SPARTAN-X950 - Jenson Mort Fireteam Echo: ---- *SPARTAN-X077 - Jake Hammer *SPARTAN-X197 - Andrew Johnson *SPARTAN-X493 - Susan Henry *SPARTAN-X135 - Louis Black *Spartan-X479 - Sam Creppe Known Spartan X Fireteams *Cobra *Echo *Gold *Valiant *Charlie *Wiskey *Sigma *Ghost *Wisper *Speck *Georgia *Alamo *London *Oxoford *Bond *Boston *Paris *Vulture *Tiger *Lion *Yankee *Greenwich *Alpha *Delta *Gamma *Foxtrot *Beta *Bravo *Hotel *Juliet *India *Lima *November *Oscar *Romeo *Papa *Tango *Siero *Victor *Zulu *Hawk *Lead